


Freckles

by ancoralefay



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Backstory, Character Study, Gen, an emotionally heavy umbrella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 06:05:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10430784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancoralefay/pseuds/ancoralefay
Summary: Taako is looking at a skeleton, and picking up an umbrella.--Taako is holding an umbrella, and thinking of his sister.





	

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for episode 59?? I'm sorry the very existence of this fic is itself a spoiler
> 
> I haven't written anything in literal years and this is very unedited. That said, the latest ep ~fucked me up~ so enjoy!
> 
> Also: I literally _just_ made a taz twitter, come check me out @mixxavii

She was a skeleton now, but before that she was his sister.

Taako had watched as Merle was thrown back against the wall, slamming to the ground with a crash. It was almost like the staff had rejected him. Something had made him try, too. He had approached, frowning, hand outstretched. And as he reached for it – the lightning shooting out, the drama of it all – it had felt so familiar. He had pulled it from her hands and the skeleton had looked at him, he was certain. In that moment she saw him, and she knew him. 

She had been waiting for him.

And then she turned to ash.

Taako weighed it in his hands and frowned, “… So now I have an umbrella.”

\--

Taako stared dumbly at the umbrella by his side. 

“I have a sister,” he said slowly. The memories were like a pounding headache, growing stronger with every heartbeat. Taako looked up, eyes shining, “I have a sister?”  
It comes in flashes. A streak of hair, bright as starlight. Years of whispered conversations, hands clutched tight between them. Eyes squinted in sunlight. Lilting voice with a wit twice as sharp. A laugh as ridiculous as his own. His sister. His twin.

Lup.

He’d had a sister.

“You took my _sister_ ,” Taako snarled. He’s filled with a hundred different feelings, a century’s worth of emotions finally catching up with him. The Director – Lucretia – the journal-keeper, their _friend_ – is looking at him, apology fresh on her lips. Taako clutches at his head, hands pulling at his hair. His eyes are screwed shut, trying to block out the world. But she’s still there.

  


They’re kids, and she’s there. 

Wandering the streets of some city bigger than either of them, twin shadows floating alley to alley like ghosts. The same hunger gnaws in both of their bellies, and they fill it with whatever they can – scraps and stories and laughter. There are nights spent huddled somewhere, anywhere, tracing constellations on each other’s faces, trying to see if even their freckles matched. That was always the game – find where they were different. It was harder, then.

  


They’re teenagers, and she’s there. 

They have a small place in a different city, cramped and cold and wonderful to both of them. Her hair was short back then. 

Taako remembers standing in the middle of their small kitchen. Lup sat on a stool in front of him, legs swinging, refusing to sit still while Taako worked on her hair. Her voice lilted like his, rising and falling from word to word. She talks about work that day, and a garden she passed, and the funniest fucking coat she’d seen this old elf wearing, and exploring, always exploring - how they were going to leave this place someday and see everything. They would go to school, and they would learn, and they would leave.  
  
Taako smiled softly, holding a lock of her hair between his fingers before cutting it, watching it fall to the floor. He hadn’t really believed her, but then again if anyone could do it, it was Lup. “Sure we will, darling,” he had said, and then softer, “You’re going to be amazing.”

She had stuck her tongue out and laughed.

  


They’re in school, _holy shit they actually did it_ , and she’s there. 

It’s hard work, but they’re used to that. They’re walking on campus, heads huddled together, one dark, one bright and blond. It’s easier to tell them apart, now. Taako doesn’t know if that’s better or worse. When they had first arrived, people had confused them all the time – Lup had quickly changed that, though. Magic had taken to her like glitter to glue, and now there wasn’t a person in the academy who didn’t know her name. Taako didn’t mind – everyone in the kitchen knew him, and that’s what mattered.

Rain is falling steadily, and they stroll around growing puddles – Lup snorts with laughter as Taako takes increasingly greater pains to avoid getting wet. “These are my favourite boots,” he whines.  
  
She laughs, “You have another pair just like them!”  
  
“Not just like them, these are distinctly more burgundy.”  
  
“Can’t you just conjure another pair, mister wizard?”  
  
He sticks out a leg and trips her, smirking as she stumbles out into the rain. “You’re the goodie goodie student,” he drawls as she shrieks, darting back beside him and patting her hair down, “See if you can catch some extra credit or some shit.”

When there’s no biting reply, Taako frowns. After a moment, he reaches up and tugs one of her long ears. She yelps and slaps his hand as he snickers.  
“Nothing is sticking, Taako,” she blurts out, and Taako can see the pent-up frustration, “I’ve tried wands and nonverbal and elemental and I mean, sure it works, but it could be so much more, y’know?”

Taako nudges her side and shrugs. “You’ll figure it out, ‘Lupa. Or you could just fucking fake it, who’s gonna know the difference? They eat up whatever you do here. Take some ordinary shit and _make_ it magic.” He boops her nose, because he knows it annoys her, and because he likes watching her freckles scrunch up. 

Lup nods absently. Her fingers trace the edge of the umbrella, and she smiles.

  


They’re standing in front of a silver ship, and she’s there. 

Lup throws an arm around him, grinning broadly. “I told you we’d do it, compadre,” she says. He shoves her arm off but can’t keep a small smile from his own face. She pinches his cheek, and just this once he lets her.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, it’s just like you promised. You, me, and a boat full of nerds.”  
  
She reaches over and ruffles his hair. Taako squawks in displeasure, batting her hands away.  
  
“Who knows, little brother,”  
  
“Two _fucking_ minutes older, Lup – “  
  
“Maybe you’ll end up liking them!” She nods at a burly human, wearing the same crimson cloak adorning their twin shoulders, loading boxes onto the ship. “They don’t look all bad,” she says softly.

Taako just rolls his eyes.

 

It’s dark, and he’s alone.

 

He’s in a cave with friends who have become strangers, and she’s there. Almost. There’s a crimson cloak that means nothing anymore, a curled handle, and a skeleton that watches him. 

  


He’s clutching his head, tears tracking down cheeks with freckles he’s seen on another face.  
  
He’s holding an umbrella, and she’s gone.


End file.
